Brake-operating mechanism.



No. 813,856. PATENTBD FEB. 27, 1906. JOHN GALEY & JEREMIAH GALEY.

BRAKE OPERATING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 5. 1904.

2 SHEBTS-SHEET 1.

PATENTED FEB. 27, 1906. JOHN GALEY & JEREMIAH CALEY.

BRAKE OPERATING MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED DEC. 5.1904.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. I

JOHN CALEY, OF BEDFORD, AND JEREMIAH CALEY, OF BLOOMINGTON,

INDIANA. I

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 27, 1906.

Application filed December 5,1904. Serial No. 285,563.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JOHN OALEY, of Bedford, in the county of Lawrence, and JERE- MIAH CALEY, of Bloomington, in the county of Monroe, State of Indiana, have invented a certain new and useful Brake-Operating Mechanism; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which like figures refer to like parts.

The object of this invention is to provide an easily-operated brake mechanism, and especially one which requires no strain of the operator for releasing it and yet will be a very eifective and permanent brake while in operation.

The nature of the invention will be under stood from the accompanying drawings and the following description and claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a wagon equipped with the brake, the tongue being broken away. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of hounds equipped with the brake, parts being shown in dotted lines. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the brake-controlling mechanism, showing the position of the same at the instant after one starts to set the brake, parts being removed and parts in section, and an arrow showing the direction of movement for actuating the same. Fig. 4 shows a portion of what appears in Fig. 3 in the position occupied by the parts when the brake is locked or at rest. Flg. 5 shows the position of the parts at the instant after the beginning of the releasing movement of the brake, the arrow indicating the direction of movement for releasing the brake.

In detail, upon the hounds there is secured a cross-bar 1 1, from which by means of links 12 a brake-beam 13 is suspended, with shoes 14 on each end thereof adapted to engage the rear wheels 15 of the wagon. Said brake-beam is swung rearward by a connecting-bar 16, pivoted at its front end to said brake-beam and at its rear end to a depending crank 17, secured to the shaft 18, mounted on the under side of the hounds. Said shaft 18 is actuated immediately by a short portion of a crank 20, secured rigidly to it and formed, as shown in Figs. 3 and 5, and said crank 20 is actuated by a long brakelever 21, formed of two side bars secured together and spaced somewhat apart, one of said bars being pivoted by the pin 22 on one side of the crank 20 and the other bar on the other side of the crank 20. Said bars forming the brake-lever are secured together at their upper ends by a plate 23 and rivets 25, that have secured to them sockets 26 for a rear handle 27. The brake-lever formed of the two side bars referred to has in it a pin 30, that extends loosely through a transverse slot 31 in the upper part of the crank 20. The crank 20 has an upwardly-extending arm 32, from which there is a pair of upwardlye'xtending parallel bars 33, rigidly secured to the arm 32 and having pivoted between them a locking-pawl 34 on the pin 35. Said locking-pawl 34 is of a peculiar shape, being in the main substantially A-shaped between its ends, and one end being turned slightly upward to form the engaging or looking end and the other end carrying a weight 36 to hold the rear end of the pawl down upon a roller 37, mounted in the brake-lever.

On a bolster 40 there is a bracket 41, to which the rear end of the curved rack-bar 42 is pivoted. Said curved rack-bar extends substantially horizontal and forwardly, and on its under and concave side it is provided with teeth that ride upon a ratchet-wheel 43, mounted by a pin 44 between the pair of side bars 33. Said side bars 33 pass on each side of the rack 42 and are united above the rack by a pin 45, that prevents the escape of the rack and also holds it down into engagement with the ratchet-wheel 43.

Near the front part of the wagon, beside the seat, a hand-lever is piveotd at 51 to the side of the wagon-bed 52 and-a rod 53 holds it in place against the side of the wagonbed, although the rod 53 is not toothed and is not a rack-bar, as is usually the case with brake mechanisms. It has no locking function, but merely acts as a guide for the movement of the lever 50. A rod 54 is pivotally connected at one end to said lever 50 and at the other end to the brake-lever 21 through the eye 55.

The brake is operated by the hand-lever 50 at the front part of the wagon when the bed is on, or the handle 27 at the rear when the bed is off The operation of the mechanism is as follows: When itis desired to set the brake, the hand-lever 50 is thrown forward, which starts the brake-lever 21 to move, as shown in Fig. 3, where it is moved slightly from its position of rest. In the position of rest the pawl 34 rests centrally on the roller- 37 as seen in Fig. 4. Then the pawl is in engagement with the ratchet-wheel. The first movement forward of the brake-lever 21 gives said brake-lever a slight movement independently of the crank 20 at its lower end, and in that movement the pin 30 is moved from the central position in the slot 31 to the extreme right end of the slot 31. During the forward movement of the brakelever 21 the ratchet-wheel 43 rides over the pawl 34 freely, as shown in Fig. 3 The further operation causes the brake-lever 21 to move the crank 20 to the position shown in Fig. 5. In this way the brake can be set tightly against the wheel by a mere pull of the hand-lever 50, and it will be automatically locked in place by merely releasing the handlever. As soon as the hand-lever is released the brake-lever 21 falls back slightly, so that the roller 37 will permit the rear end of the pawl to drop down and the engaging end of the pawl to move into locking engagement with the ratchet-wheel 43 and that locks the ratchet-wheel in engagement with the rack 42, so that the whole mechanism is locked to the forward end of the rack 42 and in the position shown in Fig. 5. In that position the pawl and ratchet-wheel are in the position shown in Fig. 4, all parts being at rest and the mechanism being locked.

When it is desired to release the brake, the hand-lever 50 is merely pushed rearward, and since the brake-lever 20 has to move independently of the crank 20 it will immediately move into the position shown in Fig. 5, the pin 30 being in the left end of the slot 31, and in that movement the roller 37 will elevate the rear end of the pawl and disengage it from the ratchet-wheel, so as to permit the further rearward movement of the brake-lever and the releasing of the brake. The parts are then thrust back into the rearward position about as shown in Fig. 3.

I The parts 20, 32, and 33 being rigidly connected constitute a crank as a whole that is secured to the shaft 18, although we have described the parts of said crank construction separately. Hence the device for operating the brake that constitutes the invention herein consists chiefly of the combination with a shaft of said compound crank, carrying the ratchet-wheel 43 and the pawl 34 and means for holding the rack-bar 42 in mesh with the ratchet-wheel and a brake-lever 21 pivotally mounted in connection with said crank, so as to be slightly movable independently thereof and having in connection with it means, such as the roller 37, for releasing the pawl from the locking position during said independent movement of the brake-lever.

What we claim as our invention,- and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a brake-operating mechanism, a shaft, an actuating-crank thereon, a lever for moving said crank that has some movement independently thereof, a locking-pawl mounted on said crank, and means on said lever for holding said pawl in an unlocking position when said lever is at its limit of movement in either direction relative to said crank.

2. In a brakeoperating mechanism, a shaft, an actuating-crank thereon, a lever for moving saidcrank that has some movement independently thereof, a locking-pawl mounted on said crank with an A-shaped shank, and means on said lever upon which the A-shaped shank of the pawl rests so that the movement of said lever in either direction independently of the crank will move said pawl to an unlocking position.

3. In a brake operating mechanism, a shaft, an actuating-crank thereon, a lever for moving said crank that has some movement independently thereof, a locking-pawlmounted on said crank with an A-shaped shank, means on said lever upon which the A-shaped shank of the pawl rests so that the movement of said lever in either direction independently of the crank will move said pawl to an unlocking position, and a weight on the shank of said pawl for moving it into a locking position.

4. In a brake operating mechanism, a shaft, an actuating-crank thereon, a ratchetwheel carried by-said crank, a rack-bar that said ratchet-wheel engages, a lever for moving said crank that has some movement independently thereof, and a pawl for engaging said ratchet-wheel and looking it with the rack-bar that is released by the independent movement of said lever.

5. In a brake-operating mechanism, a

' shaft, an actuating-crank thereon, a ratchetwheel carried by said crank, a rack'pivoted at one end to some stationary object, means on the crank for holding said rack in mesh with said ratchet-wheel, a lever for moving, said crank which has some movement independently thereof, and a pawl mounted on said crank that engages said ratchet-wheel and looks it with the rack-bar and which is released by the independent movement of said lev'er.

In witness whereof we have hereunto aflixed our signaturesin the presence of the witnesses herein named.

JOHN CALEY. JEREMIAH OALEY. Witnesses:

FRED. N. FLETCHER, ALBERT FIELDs. 

